The Blue Mountains Councillor Paula Hope is planning a resolution that, if passed, would state her town’s opposition to the pumped storage proposal for the military base property in neighbouring Meaford.
At council’s meeting on June 3, Hope provided notice that she would bring a resolution opposing the pumped storage project to the council table on June 24.
Hope had planned a similar motion last month, but withdrew it to gather more information about the project. Hope provided CollingwoodToday with the wording of her planned resolution.
It states: “Whereas the pristine, clean, clear, sparkling waters and pine-strewn shoreline of Georgian Bay are critical to the health, well-being and economic welfare of the residents and visitors to the Town of the Blue Mountains,
Whereas the Town of The Blue Mountains is an unwilling host and will not risk its unique ecosystem for a project that may create unintended consequences,
Be it resolved that the Town of The Blue Mountains is opposed to the TCE Pumped Storage Project.”
The controversial energy project, which would be located on the military base in Meaford, has generated significant community opposition in Meaford. In December 2023, the Town of The Blue Mountains council supported a resolution, in principle, from the Township of Archipelago that opposes the project.
Meaford council passed a resolution in early 2023 offering conditional support for the project.
The project plans roughly include building a 375-acre reservoir dam, elevated from the shoreline, on the military training base in Meaford. Electric pumps at water level would pull water from the bay with intake pipes far from the shore, and send it up to the reservoir during off-peak hours when demand for electricity is low. Later, when the demand on the grid increases, the water would be released back into the bay by gravity, generating power for the grid.
In an interview after the meeting, Hope said she thinks the project could have a negative impact on local drinking water.
“I’m happy to say I took the time to receive more information. I have great confidence that there is every reason for concern about the contaminated soil (on the base property),” she said.
Hope said after being elected, local councillors make a pledge to protect drinking water resources in their community and they can be held personally liable on the matter.
She said she takes that commitment “very seriously.”
“It’s a risk we cannot afford to take,” she said of the controversial pumped storage project.
Hope noted her council’s earlier unanimous support of a resolution from the Township of Archipelago opposing the pumped storage project, but said it was important to have a homegrown resolution considered by council.
“I felt it was important to bring forward a motion that was a Town of The Blue Mountains motion,” she said, adding she wanted it on the record that the town is an “unwilling host” of the project.
Sara Beasley, communications lead for the pumped storage project, said TC Energy is willing to meet with Town of The Blue Mountains representatives to share information about the pumped storage proposal.
“We and our prospective partners, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, are committed to working with council and staff to provide factual information about the project. Our offer to provide project information remains open and we hope the opportunity for information sharing is made possible in the near future in the spirit of collaboration and Indigenous reconciliation,” Beasley said in an email. “We remain committed to working with the Town of the Blue Mountains to develop this project in a way that will enhance the long-term quality of life for everyone in this area.”
